French rugby captain, Charles Ollivon, is the latest member of the team to test positive for COVID-19 after an outbreak in the squad last week meaning he will be unavailable for this Sunday’s match against Scotland.
France, who sit top of the Six Nations table, have suffered yet another blow to their squad as Ollivon becomes their tenth positive case of coronavirus following an outbreak of the disease after their victory over Ireland.
The news will be all the more devastating to fans after key player, Antoine Dupont, also tested positive last week. Head coach Fabien Galthie and his assistant, William Servat, were amongst the first members of the team to test positive which raises the question as to if the match against Scotland will go ahead.
France are also missing other players in key positions with Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas, and Arthur Vincent amongst the ten squad members who are now isolating.
All of the players who tested positive have returned to France to self-isolate and in their place, Baptiste Pesentis and Thomas Ramos have been called up alongside three uncapped players- Gaetan Barlot, Thierry Paiva and Cyril Cazeaux.
France will return to training on Wednesday with the hope that they can put together a squad capable of continuing their winning start to the tournament and defeat a Scotland side which have proven they are more than up to the challenge this year with victory over England and a narrow loss against Wales.
Testing will be carried out every 24 hours and rugby fans will be hoping there are no further outbreaks which would jeopardise the competition. Meanwhile Scotland have announced their updated squad which sees Bath back row, Josh Bayliss, come into the team after qualifying through his Scottish grandmother. Adam Hastings has also returned following his shoulder injury.
The game against Scotland on Sunday is the final match of the weekend and kicks off at 3pm.
